January 13, 2009

Fun trip turned bad!

It was after our 3rd sem that a few of my friends and I decided to go on a trip to Kanyakumari. About 10 of us where there..6 from my college- CET and 4 from TKM. What was supposed to be a really good time for us turned to be a real heartbreaker.The trouble began from the begining itself. We had decided to go by train and went to the Trivandrum railway station at about 6 in the morning. As is normally done with friends, 3 of us took the tickets for the rest and went on to board the train. A few hour after the train had started the ticket checker came.That was when we found out we had bought only 9 tickets.We tried to explain it to the ticket collector but he was unbelievably rude and arrogant. We knew it was our fault and sort of settled the matter by paying 300Rs for a 14Rs ticket.We had no idea this was just the tip of the iceberg.After reaching Kanyakumari, we took a taxi to get to the beach. It was time for breakfast and we couldnt find a nice hotel from where we were dropped by the taxi driver. The condition of the only restaurant there was really pathetic. It was only after getting inside that we noticed the actually condition. The water we were given to drink was taken from the same bucket they used for cleaning. Go somehow ate wat was given and got out without drinking anything.We walked for a while, and it was real fun. When you are with your friends you will never get bored. After having lunch - in a better hotel this time- we went out for a bit of shopping despite the constant request from one among us - lets call him A- to rest for sometime- he had the habit of taking a nap in the afternoon, probably started after getting into college,..Afternoon periods are always boring.But we somehow dragged him along. After browsing through some of the shops there, we entered a fancy shop. All we did was ask the prices of some of the items exhibited there, but I really have no idea why but the shop keeper got really angry and came down on us. We was telling something but we couldnt understand anything. He was shouting at us for no reason at all. Hearing this some of the other locals too got into it, one even came with a large stictk to threaten us. All of the others were looking at us thinking we were caught stealing something. We tried to carm the man down by saying in whatever languages we could. But he had no such intentions. He even pushed A making him fall onto me, and caught Binoj by his collar and forced him to buy something. We couldnt do anything else but obey him and somehow got out. If such an incident had happened here in Kerala the locals would certainly have been in our side, but there it was different.By that we all had lost our heart, we never imagined ourselves in such a situation. It was too much for us to take. We just had to get home. Kanyakumari just felt like an alien place. We half heartedly visited the Vivekanantha Rock and spend the rest of our time there. After failing to see the sunset, thanks to the clouds, we got into a bus to get to the railway station. Our bad luck was not yet over. The bus got stuck in a traffic jam that too while on a small bridge. 15 minutes and a lot of swear word (between drivers) later we were back on track.The train was really crowded and we managed to get just enough space for us to sit. We where talking about our ill fated day when a police man came and angrily told some something.(We havnt met a single person there with a pleasant attitude) We guessed it to be to keep quiet and went away. Well.. all these made some of us laugh. Hearing this the police man came back and scolded us. We were all too tired and devastated to respond.The whole bad luck continued as we had to wait about an hour at the bus stand for the next bus to where we where staying, that too at 3 in the moring.It was the worst day anyone could ever get. Now when Im thinking about it, a smile is crossing my face...